Analytical Essay: Law Vs. Religion

Words: 1469
Pages: 6
Open Document
To be secluded in the depths of an unknown land for days without any sense of security would certainly be life changing. It would force one to analyze themselves and their life as they know it. Questions like, “What is truly important to me?” and “What do I really believe?” would no doubt pry themselves into one’s mind as they faced the uncertainty of death. Campbell McGrath portrays this type of journey through his poem Shannon.
While in his search to find his identity Shannon experiences an inner conflict of ideas that ultimately set law and religion against each other. Shannon believes that law always trumps religion. He desires justice in his world, in a sense, he desires action, and the law is the only thing that has been able to show …show more content…
In the theme of Law vs. Religion, Shannon’s father represents law. His father, is his authority figure. In essence, his father is like the law. Stern, and unbending are traits that many associate with the law. Shannon’s opinion of his father appears to show similar traits. In his hunger Shannon imagines the type of response his father would have, “Nothing wrong with hunger/George my boy (McGrath 15).” This quote shows how stern Shannon sees his father. Instead of his father being concerned for his son’s wellbeing, he basically tells him to toughen up. He marks his feelings of hunger as invalid by saying nothing is wrong with it. Shannon clearly believes that his father is stern and unbending simply because that is how he imagined his father’s response. In his mind he could’ve imagined his father in any way that he would like, but instead he has internalized his father’s unsympathetic characteristics. Shannon’s father is also a man of action. It is known that while Shannon’s mother attended church, Shannon and his brother went hunting with their father. This shows that in order to feel useful, his father would rather be actively doing something. In this way, he is also like the law. The law actively regulates its community, and actively disciplines, much like one could infer Shannon’s father
Show More

Related Documents: Analytical Essay: Law Vs. Religion

Essay on Faith & Reason

Analytical Reading & Writing –Question 5: How do faith and reason contribute to an understanding and appreciation of life and the universe? For many people around the world, faith and reason both contribute to a broader understanding and appreciation of life and the universe. Before going deeper into the question, ‘faith’ and ‘reason’ needs to be defined so that there is a better understanding of what they mean. ‘Faith’ is when an individual has a strong belief in someone with higher power, be it…

Words 981 - Pages 4

Essay on Summary of History of Graphic Design by Meggs

Cuneiform – Wedged shaped writing, created in 3000BC. Started as pictographs. - With the discovery of cuneiform, there was a knowledge explosion, where libraries were organized filling with tablets about religion, mathematics, and history. Writing enabled society to stabilize itself, and laws were…

Words 14951 - Pages 60